When The Rain Stops (BXB)

Chapter 21

They have me stay home from school. I'm in bed for most of the day anyways. They don't know what to do with me. I don't know what to do with me. Like, there's entire parts of the day I'm trying to piece together, but I just don't remember it at all. I'm stunned and sad. It happened again. But I think this was the worst it's ever been.

"Jack?" The door opens, and Mom and Dad're there. They have my phone. "We have something for you." They hand it to me like the wrong touch can break every bone in my body.

I power it on. It has a full battery.

And I have 4 messages and 2 missed calls from Julia, 2 messages from Harper, 7 messages and 2 missed calls from Rory, and, like, over 50 from the club's group chat. I've got notifications from Facebook. Instagram. Fucking Snapchat.

I frown. I wanna cry.

Swallowing whatever's in my throat, I tap the phone in my hand. "...when did he drop it off?"

Mom tilts her head. "You were still asleep." Then she kneels on the floor beside my bed. "...what happened?"

Dad sits on the edge of my mattress. He positions himself twice to make sure he's not touching me.

"...someone threw cake at me." I gesture to my shoulder.

"At the bake sale?" asks Dad.

I nod. I don't have the energy to explain more. I'm already ready to cry again.

"You okay?" he asks, putting his hand on my foot.

I nod.

Mom sighs. "Jack, are you okay?"

I rub my eyes. I shrug. "...I don't know."

It's Dad's turn to sigh. "...what do you want to do, Jackson?"

I wanna leave this fucking town. But it comes out as this whiny, sad, "I'm sorry."

Dad scoots closer to me and grabs my shoulders. "Hey. Hey, hey, hey. Don't apologize, Jackson. Don't you apologize for that. That wasn't your fault." He inhales. "We should've been there." He looks at Mom and swallows what's in his mouth. "You mom and I should've been there."

Yeah, so you could've seen everyone figure out I was at a booth for the Gay/Straight Alliance? No thanks.

I open my mouth and take a breath in. "I wanna go to the Cottage during spring break." Somewhere far enough away for me to be alone and, like, refresh myself for the last couple months of school.

Mom gets on her knees. "Jackson, why – "

"I'm not saying sorry about what happened. I'm saying sorry to you guys." I look at them and continue, "This year's just been such a, a fucking mess – "

Mom taps me. "You know how I feel about the language, Jackson."

I keep going, and apparently I've started crying. "It's just been such a mess since we got back and..." I look at Dad and wipe my eyes. "...and I know it probably hasn't been – that I haven't been easy to deal with. And I'm really, really sorry for it." I wipe my eyes and kinda hope I'm done looking like a wuss.

"Oh, honey," Mom whispers, hugging me.

When she's all done, Dad puts a hand on my face. "I appreciate the apology, Jack. We both do." There's a "but" in there, but he doesn't say it.

"I wanna go to the Cottage during spring break. Alone."

Mom looks at Dad, and then me. "...sweetheart, we don't have the money for it."